Normal
by Lisa Smithers
Summary: Three months after the war, the Samurai rangers are adjusting to a new life. Will the effects of PTSD and paranoia be too much for them to manage? Or will learn to fit into their new environment? Will they keep their identity a secret? Or will that secret get out? This starts out with Mike, but I will insert the other ranger's new lives in a few chapters. -Rated for violence.
1. Prologue

A/N: Alright, I had a little fun with this one, and made the Shiba house rules very strict, as well as made all the ranger's parents very, very strict as well. The rangers were allowed almost zero contact with the outside world. The weren't allowed to have friends or anything like that. They were all home schooled and very, very isolated from civilians. All of them lived in the middle of nowhere, and never spoke to anyone who didn't know of the rangers. Meaning, they had spoken to servants and guardians of the Tengen gate and that's about it. So, they have little to no idea about social norms.

I also took the liberty of making the situation with the war a lot more dire. They were on the verge of losing the war for a long time, and the nighlocks were much more tricky and difficult to beat. The rangers had to develop Sherlock Holmes like skills of deduction and observation to find nighlock in a crowd of civilians, because in my story, nighlock had developed the technology to camouflage themselves to look like humans. However, they did not entirely understand humans, and thus could be told apart from the humans by using various signs the rangers had learned to recognize. As an example, they have little understanding of human body language, and would thus either over use it (wild erratic hand and arm motions while speaking,) or under use it (Standing perfectly still with hands at their sides.)

In my increasing the danger and fear of the war, I have also given several of the rangers (Jayden and Mike, as well as Emily to a certain extent) PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). I am by no means an expert on this subject, though I do try to do my research. I am portraying PTSD as I have understood it by reading various articles online and in books, so feel free to correct me about any of the symptoms or causes that I may have misinterpreted and/or misrepresented in this story. In addition, any of the changes of personality in the power ranger samurai characters can be attributed to Post-Traumatic Stress and paranoia created in the rangers by the war against the nighlock. I upped the stakes a lot for this story, so I hope I have been clear in what I have changed from the original plot. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy my story.

Sincerely,

Lisa Smithers


	2. Meeting the Roommate

**A/N:** Alright, if you haven't read the prologue, parts of this aren't going to make much sense, so I highly suggest you read the prologue before continuing. Thank you!

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 **Mike's pov**

Three months. That's how long it had been since we won the war. Two, since we left the Shiba house. I had decided to go to college, unlike the other rangers who decided to get jobs straight off. We all had about a high school level education, but I wanted more.

I was now about to meet my roommate who would share the dorm with me. I quickly found that I didn't understand a normal life as well as I had thought. Things, happenings, customs, they seemed so foreign to me. I hadn't realized just how out of the ordinary my childhood had been. I had already decided that I wasn't too great at connecting with people on a personal level, so I'd kept it more or less professional.

Ji had told us that it wasn't necessary that we conceal our identities anymore, but unless we wanted to be swarmed by the press we should be careful who we tell it to. Make sure we only tell people we trust. I didn't really want people to know. I just wanted to be considered normal.

I was told my roommate was in the dorm, waiting to meet me. I briefly remembered the paper I had been given in regards to the person.

Andrew James (Called AJ), 20 years old, a pre-law student.

I had previously asked around, talking to various teachers to acquire more information. "He's a good student, bright, creative, and definitely passionate about his chosen path. Highly intelligent, but also quite humorous and lighthearted." Had been most of the teachers opinion. It sounded like someone I would get along with pretty well. Serious for the most part, but he could accept the occasional bit of sarcasm. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" said a voice from inside. I slowly opened the door, surprised to see that it was unlocked.

I stepped in and saw who I assumed to be my new roommate.

"Michael Richardson, I believe I am to be your roommate." I said, "You are Andrew James, I presume?" I studied his reaction. I could probably do with a little less formality, maybe a touch more casual.

He nodded slightly, but seemed a bit hesitant.

Was I doing something wrong? I didn't think so.

"Nice to meet you." I said, I held out my hand for him to shake. He did, but again hesitantly.

"Nice to meet you too." He said. He then seemed to snap out of whatever stupor he had previously been in. "Your room is right over here." He said, pointing to a door, "When you're done unpacking I'll show you around a bit more.

I thanked him and walked into my new room.

It looked fairly bland with white walls, and I decided then and there that I would get a plant to entertain myself with and to brighten up the space. I would have to do that later.

I unpacked the stuff I had brought with me, I made my bed and put my stuff on my desk.

That was that. I walked back out of the room to see Andrew sitting on the futon I assumed he had brought with him. I hadn't brought any furniture, figuring I'd make do with whatever was available.

Andrew stood up, "Follow me, I'll give you a grand tour." He raised his arms out, "The magnificent living room."

A TV and the futon. That was the living room.

He led me over to a section of the room closer to the door. The kitchen. This was a little more complex. I saw a stove and an oven, which was good, I also saw a microwave which seemed to be used much more commonly, as it was quite dirty. There was also a small fridge. Not a mini fridge, but it was still small. "Bathroom's over there, and my room's over there." Andrew said, pointing to the rooms respectively.

"When's your first class?" He asked.

"I have Chemistry at 9:00 tomorrow morning."

I said. I didn't see any harm in telling him this information. Even so, I still felt hesitant.

I knew that was just my ranger tendencies acting up. We were trained not to tell anyone anything. And after the whole incident with

Josh... That included your new friends too.

I shook the thought out of my head and attempted to listen to Andrew.

After a moment I realized he was telling me my class's location and how to get there.

I already knew, but I could tell he was just trying to help. So instead I spent the time nodding while studying him. Definitely a social person and seems to have quite the network of friends...

I could see a lot of pictures in his room, most of him with what look like random people.

Huh. Anyway, Andrew had blue eyes, light brown hair, and he had glasses (light, rectangular, metal frame, silver.)

He wore nice clothes, but they were a little rumpled. His hair was combed neatly indicating that he knew the meaning of personal hygiene, for which I was thankful.

He seemed to be an alright type of guy.

I started to pay attention again.

"So since we're roommates I guess we ought to get to know each other." Andrew said, "Where are you from?"

"Here in Panorama." I answered. That question wasn't so hard to answer, but I knew the other ones coming would be.

"And you are how old?" He asked.

"I just turned twenty." I answered.

"And your major?" Andrew asked.

"Bio-chemical engineering." I answered.

Andrew was about to say something, then paused.

"Aren't you going to ask me the same thing?" He asked.

"I don't have to. You're from Texas, probably a fairly large city, and you came up here on a scholarship. You're 19 years old, and you are a pre-law major."

He looked at me oddly.

"How did you know all that?" Andrew said.

"I asked around." I answered, "Wanted to make sure I would get along with you."

"What else do you know about me?" He asked.

"You play guitar, you enjoy watching TV, your favorite genre of music is rock, you like your popped corn without butter, and your favorite soda is Dr. Pepper. You like little Caesar's pizza, but you prefer pizza hut. You can often be found in the library doing research on past cases. Chances are you've got a fairly nice car, and you take good care of it. You don't do much cooking, just the occasional snack. You eat most meals at the cafeteria or take out. You also have an abnormal obsession with super heroes of all kinds."

"Who did you ask?" Andrew said, seeming confused.

"The teachers." I wondered why he was confused.

"How did you know the other stuff, like what pizza I like?" Andrew asked. I detected suspicion in his voice.

"The pizza boxes in the trash." I said, "Two were pizza hut, one was little Caesars." I proceeded to explain how I figured out the other things about him.

"Are you related to Sherlock Holmes or something?" Andrew asked.

I was about to say no and point out that Sherlock is just a fictional character and doesn't actually exist, but then it clicked. It was a joke. "Very funny." I said.

"No seriously, is your dad a Detective or something?" Andrew asked.

I wasn't sure how to answer that.

"No." I said.

"So you just picked it up?" Andrew asked.

"I guess so." I said. I struggled to keep my voice confident. It was more difficult than you would imagine avoiding phrasing my answers as questions. This was more than I had ever told anyone about myself. None samurai related that is, and even then the team just kind of learned it as we went. They hadn't really asked me.

"That is weird, man." Andrew said, "But I bet it's pretty cool." _He called me "man,''_ I thought, _That's a casual phrase and that implies that he's starting to get used to me._

"It's useful at times." I said. To be honest, it got on my nerves sometimes. I never actually thought about scanning the person much, but being a ranger, it had programmed me to check for problems, something that didn't quite make sense about a person. It had helped me identify many nighlocks in disguise. It was automatic now.

"Well, I guess I ought to ask more questions about you." Andrew said.

I couldn't help but swallow nervously.

 _Calm down._ I thought, _Keep yourself in check._

"Alright." I said, "Shoot."

"What are your hobbies?" He asked.

My mind went blank. _Think think think._ I thought. I used the first thing that popped into my mind.

"I used to like video games." I said.

"Used to?" Andrew asked.

"I haven't had much chance to play them these past few years." I answered.

"Anything else?" Andrew asked.

"I play guitar too. And piano." I said, "I can't read music though. I play by ear."

"Cool." Andrew said, "We'll have to play together some time. What's your favorite power ranger?"

That question caught me off guard. I forced myself not to panic.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"What's your favorite color of power ranger?" He repeated. I thought for a moment then answered carefully.

"I don't have a favorite, why?"

"I collect power ranger stuff. My favorite is green." Andrew said, "Red's pretty awesome too though." Well that was an interesting turn of events.

"Really?" I asked.

"Uh huh." Andrew nodded, "Come on, I'll show you." I hesitantly followed him into his room.

Posters lined his walls. I recognized my team in morphed form. I knew we were famous, but posters? Action figures? Lunch boxes?

We were more famous than the president himself.

"Pretty impressive huh?" Andrew said.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so." I said. Then I saw a poster of a nighlock.

 **Andrew's pov**

I had already decided my new roommate was weird. When the subject changed to the power rangers though, I started to get excited.

I was showing him the things I had collected, but he stopped when he saw a nighlock poster I had. I saw him clench his jaw.

"You alright?" I asked, "You're acting weird." After a second he seemed to snap out of it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said brushing it off.

"Moving on." I said, before showing him the rest of the collection.

"Do you have any idea what the ranger's names are?" He asked, looking at a poster.

"Personally, I'm not sure. No one's proved anything. They could be alien for all I know." I said, "Rumor is though, that the red ranger's name is Jackson or something similar. Online chat groups think the yellow's name is Amy."

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A/N: Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it. I plan to put up the next chapter soon, so just bear with me! Please review!


	3. Friends and Parents

Andrew watched his roommate eat a breakfast consisting of sushi that he had prepared himself.

An unusual choice for a college freshman.

Very unusual.

Mike glanced up at Andrew from across the table. He had noticed Andrew's stare.

"What?" Mike asked.

"You've been here for two weeks now." Andrew said.

"Yes... So?"

"I still don't know anything more about you than the day we met." Andrew said. "You haven't really done anything but study."

"It's a college. Isn't learning what you're supposed to do?" Mike asked raising an eyebrow in a way that made it very obvious he knew the answer already.

"Well yeah, but you can still have fun too." Andrew said.

"I am having fun." Mike said.

"All you've done is eat, sleep, study, and exercise. That's it."

"What were you expecting me to do?"

"I don't know, go out, meet some other students, make friends... I don't know." Andrew said exasperatedly. "What did you do for fun before you came here?"

"Read, sketched, and played guitar." Mike answered.

"You didn't have any friends?" Andrew asked.

"Not really..." Mike said. "I didn't need any."

"How could you not need friends?" Andrew asked.

"I just didn't. I don't have an explanation."

"But you do now, right?" Andrew said.

"I guess so."

It was silent for awhile, and they continued to eat.

"What are your parents like?" Andrew asked.

Mike paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to be honest without telling everything.

"My dad, he was a nut case more or less, and uh- I don't remember my mom." Mike said. "Mom died when I was young, and my Dad died a few years ago. My uncle has been my guardian since then."

"Oh." Andrew said. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Mike said. "I've got a new start now. And speaking of which, we'll be late for our classes if we don't hurry up."

Andrew looked up at the clock and nodded, then started eating his cereal much more quickly while at the same time trying to put his shoes on.

Mike had already finished his breakfast, and was grabbing his backpack.

Andrew looked up at Mike.

"I still don't know how you fit all your books in there." He said, pointing to the back pack.

"It's because I clean mine out once in a while."

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A/N: So pretty short, but hopefully not super terrible, I hope you enjoyed it and will keep reading! Reviews please!


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